Chapter XLIII: Berserker

Well, let’s talk about more classes...again. After all the FF serie has like 60+ classes…so there are a lot to talk about =P

Today, berserker. It’s an idea I had while watching Ruruoni Kenshin…think on it as the master of inertia. It would be like a juggernaut…heavy, slow but when it start thrashing about it’s pretty hard to stop.

First, the weapon…a giant axe! “Another axe? We already have MRDs with axe!” you might be thinking…well, yes and no. Barbarians would use gigantic battle axes with like 1.5 times their own size…if it was a MRD, it would be a lalafell MRD equipped with a labrys with roegadyn scaling…way bigger than the character.

It would be so big the character wouldn’t drop the axe even in passive mode…he would just leave the axe in the ground and pull it by a rope at its butt. And, by the way, the rope itself is a key part of the class mechanics…it’s the axis for continued attacking. Think on it fighting like a hammer throw athlete. He will use the axe weight to put it in a constant spin…again, this is why the rope is important!

The basic here is the continued movement…which can also be called “action spam”. Yeah, I know…haters gonna hate! =P However, here the action spam will be used to improve performance.

Let’s elaborate an example…let me name 3 actions…the basic action “Broad Sweep”, the classic signature move “Berserk” (or can call it “Furore” to prevent misleading ideas regarding the berserk status ailment). And the WS “Smite of Rage”

First the basic attack…the broad sweep is a heavy stamina cost basic attack (I’d say half of stamina gauge) at start…always keep in mind the inertia…the first action always id the one that requires the most effort. It will do a radial AoE melee attack and that’s it. But now the tricky part…if you use it again BEFORE the animation of the current attack is over (queuing it), the second spin will actually consume just half of the stamina. Again, if you queue it before the second spin is over, the stamina cost is halved again….and so on. So, in short, the continuous usage of the same basic action (or WS) will have a progressive bonus. It’s interesting the class having a repetition counter at status ailment…just for a better control from players.

The bonus itself can change…like broad sweep getting reduced stamina cost upon continuous usage, but we having the Rapid Sweep that is weaker than broad sweep a start but that gets stronger after every sweep.

The Furore would be a tricky action…it would repeat the last action used cost-free…as soon as it’s not the first repetition of it. So, he can use, as example, Rapid Sweep > Rapid Sweep > Furore to actually do a third rapid sweep, but this time cost-free.

This action would be very useful to keep strategies going when you had a miscalculation of costs. It would have a stamina-free cost too, but a pretty long recast (3~5 min).

The Smite of Rage would be a WS similar to Rapid sweep, but having the damage increased in a much higher rate since the TP cost would also increase. The first Smite of Rage would cost 500 TP, the second 1000 TP, the third 1500 TP and so on…easy to see how all examples are connected, right?

And since we are here tossing examples, let me toss some others…like the Hurricane! This action, as the name suggests, would be a WS only usable when the repetition counter reach a certain value (I’d say 5…because 5 repetitions would be pretty hard to have depending of what action you using)…just imagine you bursting all your TP and repetition counters to generate a heavy wind-based radial AoE damage WS.

Another example can be the Mad Rush action, that would cause a 10 seconds Enraged effect on berserkers (becoming uncontrollable and not being able to unlock or change target, also increasing attack and decreasing defense). This action also could be named berserk…but again, I wouldn’t want it to get mixed with the berserk effect. For this action, the higher tier version would increase the duration of the Enraged effect. It’s worth saying that the player will randomly use TP moves while in this mode…just like any monster AI would too.

Chapter XLII: Epic Battles

The main questions here are...For a battle to be epic, does it need to be battled? Is the battle itself more important than the lore involved? Is the combat the only way of taking part in an epic event?

If you ask me, the answers to all these questions would be “No”. I really liked the concept this FF brought to MMO world…the “Play however you like” one. For those that don’t know, the main concept is that the player will be able to fully enjoy the game even if he has only one class and even if this class is a disciple of hand or land.

So I was thinking about this the other day and came to a conclusion…there is a pretty simple way of doing this, where the story and the lore are way more important than the battle itself…the Calendar Wheel.

Instead of you having a certain mission accessible in a certain level or by a certain class (this would be valid still…but not for the main scenario quests/missions or other important quests), they would be triggered based on ingame Calendar.

An important info…eorzean calendar is composed of 12 months of 32 days and each day lasts around 1 hour. So one month lasts 32 hours and one year 384 hours (16 days).

So the basic is that it would work similarly to FFTA calendar wheel system, where a certain even would trigger only in a certain period of the year…who took part this time, do it and those who didn’t can take part the next time they happen.

So, as example, we can have events like that festival in Ul’dah (first main scenario quest) with a set day, separating the tutorial quest from it. Maybe making a tutorial part more like Limsa and Gridania ones, not involving the city itself…maybe starting at hamlets…the possibilities are countless!

Think that every event of these would have 2 versions…the first time experience and the repeatable experience. Still using the festival as example…the first one you do would be the rampaging goobbue one…but this wouldn’t be the only one…if the festival happens to be from 11/08 to 12/08 (an ingame month) then if you go to Ul’dah during this period you will always see the festival…even if you already completed the main scenario quest…sometimes you would have different quests related to the “default event”, being then only for those who already completed the main scenario.

Imagine we having branching quests…like garlean invasion to Gridania as example…they trying it from 03/01 to 05/01 (2 ingame months)…during this period we having large-scale garlean attacks around all Black Shroud and Gridania…in the end of these 2 months we having a tally based on results…if garleans won then Gridania would be seized and later on we would have another event, let’s say 09/01 (and, if they fail, 03/01 again…an attempt to free it every 6 months), to try and free Gridania.

We could have active events regarding freeing Ala Mihgo from time to time, having tournaments in Ul’dah, characters being jailed and having to stay a few time in prison (break away attempts being valid too), temporary conflicts between beast tribes and nations or even between 2 beast tribes or 2 nations…

FFTA has shown how good this kind of event would work! And, with a set time, we could have really epic, large-scale events for people regardless of classes! Heck! We even have nice constellations…how about the classic star aligning that could, from time to time, bring some kind of event…like they aligning every 10-20 years (every 160-320 real days) for extra rare events like opening portals to certain areas where you can find special aetherial gates (gates so it’s an individual warping…no free ride for those who lost the event =P) or certain NMs awakening only for a limited time…

FFTA and FFTA2 have shown how well this system can work…and I believe it would be great for this game not only regarding battle content but any other kind! Those who played it know that we had many events that weren’t battle related!

Also, seasonal events would be also cool, like we having the harvesting seasons, rain seasons and the seasons themselves (spring, summer, autumn and winter…but obviously without the real events…these would match our calendar and not ingame one…also, would be nice the seasons lasting from 6 months to one year (I like the 1-year season idea) so we could also having events related to that seasonal period only…like having areas only accessible during winter due snow and frozen lakes, certain items only harvestable during spring, etc) so the game would look way more alive!.

Chapter XLI: Monks part 3 - Master Monks

Master Monks:

As the name says, they are the ultimate monks. The main difference from them to any other class is the fact is that master monks don’t use any weapon. Don’t get me wrong…for the armory system to work it is required to have “something” at main weapon slot…the only difference is that for master monks, there is no weapon…you will equip a fighting style!

Differently from other classes where the weapon defines many battle attributes from the class, here will be the fighting style that will! And an observation…all fighting styles will be optimal rank 50! So they will, pretty much, grow with you, improving in every single aspect for every rank you acquire!

But not everything is “ponies and rainbows”…being a martial arts style, it cannot be bought or sold…you will have to learn it! “But how?” you might be asking since you need a weapon to start…well, it’s not expected to be a starting class! No one can start “master”, right? =P

When you do the quest to unlock it you will be required to have one of the other monks or PGL in order to face the “Dragon Master”, holder of the Dragon Style! The idea is a quest that really simulates a tournament…7 fighters, 6 fights, one per ingame day (oh yeah…FFXI players might be having some nostalgic feeling regarding this!)…the finals, obviously, is against the Dragon Master.

Once you beat him, you will have a CS of him teaching you the style and TA-DA! Master Monk unlocked!

Now about the class itself! Master monk will have 2 separated sets of actions…the class actions, including basic attacks, some WSs and abilities and the style actions, that can only be learned and used with that style (this is why all styles are optimal rank 50…you need them even in power from rank 1 to 50). So, in short, think that master monk alone would be something like the FFXI job/subjob system, with the class and cross-class actions as subjob and the style actions as main job.

On a side note, the style would only be “visible” in active mode, where a aura burst would be burning by the character until he changes to passive mode. It would be something simple, like FFXI avatar aura and stuff…just so people can distinguish which style you using by just looking to you. Also, the damage of each style would be blunt 50% and the style main damage type 50%.

Each style will have positives and negatives aspects…here some examples:

Dragon Style: It’s a balanced style, that focus on single-hit, strong strikes to defeat enemies. The signature actions would be the Dragon Punch (it HAD to be here! Deals blunt damage to the target. The damage increases the closer the targets are) and the Dragon Kick (Deals Blunt damage to the target. The damage increases the farer the targets are).

Tiger Style: It’s a speedy style. It has pretty low attack if compared to dragon style, but a extremely high critical rate! The signature WS would be the Tiger Claw (5-fold WS dealing slashing damage) and the Eye of the Tiger (would love this name…but I bet there would cause trademark issues due the music. Ensures the next attack to strike a critical hit.)

Boar Style: It’s the classic all-or-nothing…very high attack but pretty low accuracy. Boar Thrash (Line AoE that deals blunt damage to all targets in front of you) is a pretty cool name for a signature action!

And so on…we could have a viper style that is always exchanging low damage for enfeebling effects or what I’d call the ultimate style (just pick an animal…maybe shark style or kraken style) which would constantly consume MP by the simple fact of you changing to active mode…it would be the strongest in every aspect since the active mode period would be limited by the MP pool. If a water monster, even the name could be like Kraken Maelstrom the signature action, an 8-fold WS that deals have the damage increased based on the amount of MP already spent.

Chapter XLI: Monks part 2 – White Monk.

White Monks:

White monks are different from monks in not only the weapon but also the role. White monks would use weapons like nuchakus, sansetsukons and poles for combat, having a pretty long melee range. They’re more like priests than fighters, with powerful healing abilities and ashkin/soulkin-oriented attacks.

With a pretty low MP pool, it focus on TP usage to heal the party.

Their signature move certainly is the Exorcise, which is a WS that deals Astral damage and has a low success rate of utterly destroying any ashkin or soulkin hit by it. While this kind of kill does not reward skill points or loot, it can be a very useful WS when fighting enemies with constant summoning of this kind of monster.

Some other actions would be:


- Holy Sign: Removes all status ailments of the target, regardless of being positive or negative.
- Revive: Revives an ally.
- Body Render: Changes the next Render-type WS into single target and increases damage.
- Mind Render: Changes the next Render-type WS damage type to its respective element.
- Sanctuary (WS): Consumes all the TP and heals everyone in range by 33% of the used TP.
- Crematory (WS): Deals fire damage. Against ashkin, adds burn effects.
- Magnet (WS): Deals lightning damage. Against forgekin, adds shock effects.
- Ice Coffin (WS): Deals ice damage. Against soulkin, adds frost effects.
- Earth Render (WS): Deals piercing damage on target and all monsters in-between.
- Air render (WS): Deals frontal cone AoE slashing damage to all monsters in range.
- Water Render (WS): Deals ranged radial AoE blunt damage on target and all monsters nearby.

And these are just some examples…it could be even more focused to these types of monsters.”But wait…there isn’t anything unique there…” you say…yes, I know! The unique part comes now!

The tricky part of white monks is the “Chi Aura”, an action used to channel the local chi into an status ailment. Since we don’t have many soil variations, I decided making Chi Aura absorbing the weather element. Example: If it’s raining and I use Chi Aura, I receive the effect of “Water Chi”, which can be stored up to 5 times. Each element chi can be stored up to five times. If you want a similar mechanics, we have the FFXI’s DNC steps.

Several actions will have an additional (and optional) chi cost that will increase the performance of that action. Here some examples:

- Body Render can consume a Fire, Earth and Lightning chi (the 3 elements related to physical performance) to improve its effect, like not removing the AoE and increasing the damage bonus.
- Mind Render could use ice, water and wind chi to improve its performance, like not only changing the element but also increasing damage.
- Air, Earth and Water Render could consume one of their respective elements to improve damage.
- Sanctuary could consume a wind, fire and lightning chi (astral) to improve the healing percent.
-Exorcise could use fire, wind and lightning (astral) to increase damage and ashkin removal rate.

In short, the Chi Aura will be the main aspect of this class. And being consumable upon usage, it very often won’t be reliable in long battles since not all weathers can happen in a single area and not in a quick rate too…so it would be something stored prior to fight.

If turns to be necessary, it can have a “Inner Chi” action too with a pretty long recast where you consume your own Chi (MP) to generate one of each element chi, or having an action I’d find ironic since I always hated this mechanics…make something similar to the Draw system from FFVIII, where you can draw Chi from monsters midfight based on the element of crystals they drop. Obviously, ashkin and forgekin would have no chi to absorb since they’re no living beings.

At next part, Master Monks!

Chapter XLI: Monks part 1 - Monk

Well, before starting, let’s define a monk...i see some people have a hard time even distinguishing pugilist from monk by the simple fact they both use hand-to-hand...so i think it’s good to explain this here...

A pugilist is a pitfighter…that dude that goes from a Rocky Balboa to a Cody (Final Fight/Street Fighter)…the dude that focus on fists mainly to win.

A monk is different…monks are those fighters that trained martial arts their whole lives and that do not require any kind weapon to fight. Since the armory system requires weapon, so be it…we will set one (or more) to them.

In FF serie we have 3 types of monks…the monks, the white monks and the master monks…the idea is to have them all separated and unique here.

Monks:

Monks are the master of chakra, which uses them combined with fast sequence of attacks to defeat the enemies. So let’s list the 7 chakras and a possible effect related to each of them:

Chakra: Muladhara – Adds HP, MP and TP and split them equally to each of them.
Chakra: Swadhisthana – Boosts Attack.
Chakra: Manipura – The next damage received will consume TP instead of HP.
Chakra: Anahata – Heals self.
Chakra: Vishuddha – Temporarily increases the combo window duration.
Chakra: Ajna – Increases Counter rate. Effect wears off after countering an attack.
Chakra: Sahasrara – Adds MP Bleed and Regain effect.

These will be the base of monk. For Weaponskills, chakra blast attacks. Here some examples:

Aura Pulse (yes, the very same…for PGL I’d replace it with Roundhouse, which fits PGL much better) - But here I’d add knock back effect too and change damage to Astral.

Aura Blast – Similar Wide Volley. A ranged, target radial AoE WS that deals astral damage.

Aura Burst – Well, easiest way to explain this is saying “Kamehameha”. A 3000 TP WS that also has a very large MP cost, long recast (like 3 minutes) and consume a heavy stamina cost, but that will have a doubled range, dealing massive astral line AoE damage to the target and all monsters between them and also generating radial AoE, damaging all monsters nearby. In short, the most classic anime “ultimate technique”! Get out the way or die! ^^

The rest would be mainly basic attacks for combo (similar to Heavy Strike > Flurry), but in a much increased version (Brutality anyone? ^^) and retaliation WSs that can only be used after countering an attack.

Due the class mechanics itself, it would be the class with the most basic attacks of all. They would be: Fist Combo, Kick Combo, Knee Combo, Elbow Combo, Headbutt (one hit, blunt damage), Kick (2 hits, slashing damage) and Punch (3 hits, piercing damage).

Headbutt, Punch and Kick will be the 3 “basic” attacks of the class, while the combos will be basic attacks that can only be used after one of these were used to trigger what I call “Combo Skill”

All combo actions would only be usable when following Headbutt, Punch, Kick or a Combo action, would, instead of TP, use MP (so it can generate TP too) and add a certain debuff to target. Every time a combo is generated a “Combo Token” will be added to Status list of the monk…when the combo is broken for some reason, it automatically triggers a Combo skill, that is similar to a WS in every aspect, except by the fact they don’t have action cost or take space at action bar. It’s to balance the insane amount of basic attacks of the class. I’d say that we would have 5 Combo Skills, one for when you use 1-hit combo, one for when you do a 2-hit combos, 3, 4 and 5-hit combos. We could add more, but with a 5-hit combo you might be already with a decent amount of TP.

As weapon, monks would have the classic hand-to-hand. No big deal here!

At next part, White Monks!

Chapter XL: Tanking styles

Enough of pets! Let’s talk about the tanking styles of this game! This is a great aspect many didn’t notice the difference at all…

Here we have 4 different tanking styles…using FFXI jobs as reference, they would be the PLD style, WAR style, NIN style and…the THM style!

GLA can tank like FFXI's PLD, based on high defense, damage mitigation actions and a large amount of enmity generation actions. With the Sentinel actions it does can tank very well, both single and multiple targets.

PGL can tank like FFXI's NIN, based on high evasion, damage negating actions and multiple retaliation actions for enmity. The idea here is basically enmity maintenance with Accomplice, Taunt and the continuous hitting mixed with the continuously evading attacks, which not only prevent enmity to going down due damage taken but also creating openings for Increased enmity actions like Jarring Strike.

MRD can tank like FFXI's WAR, based on high DPS, native increased enmity generation of actions and large HP pool. Differently from PGL that is mainly for single target tanking, MRD is specialized in multiple targets tanking since, just like every single aspect of this class, the performance is increased with the number of enemies.

Now THM…this is an original tanking style of this game…it’s a mix of all three styles above, being a class capable of generating some insane enmity, healing self, have many damage mitigation actions from both native action list and Sentinel action list and even its own retaliation actions.

The beauty of THM is that it actually works very similar to enmity setup PLD of FFXI, where you have way less HP and Def than a straight tanking setup, having then a more unstable enmity flow, but at same time a much increased enmity generation based on DPS and self healing.

So, we can actually say they are specialized in one type of situation.

-GLA is best for tanking fast hitting, average damage single enemy or to hold weaker monsters. With the damage mitigation actions it’s the best option for those monsters that have more endurance than power.

-MRD is specialized in bosses with minions, It can tank these like no other since it’s based on high DPS, also helping a lot with the fast kill of minions.

-PGL is perfect for single targets like the great buffalo…hard hitters but slow monsters where a straight tanking might stress the mages, having the damage negation as best option.

-THM is the best tank for mage monsters. With the high DPS and the capacity of nearly negating most of the magic damage and even a decent amount of physical damage, it can deal with mage monsters as no one!

Each tanking style can excel in certain situations and not be so good in others, but all 4 are worth credit! ^^

Chapter XXXIX: Mediator

Well, more pet classes! This time, Mediator! Mediator would be a class based on a good speech to change the rules of the battle…think on it as some kind of Sheriff.

For looking, no armor would fit it better than this company soldier set…the western-looking and a rifle would make it look really nice! ^^

For role, ranged attacker and supporter it is, with word-based actions that affect all spoken near it, manipulating them! But the idea is that the word-based actions of work up to a certain radius of it, requiring it to continuously moving around to keep the targets in range. The idea is to have actions that always cause effect to everyone in range (spoken only unless under effect of Monster Talk) and always cause stat conversion and all effects wear off if the target moves out of effect radius. Also, you can see I tried to make an effect wheel instead of a straight effect line. Lemme suggest some actions (using FFT action names and also setting only melee effect actions):

-Monster Talk (recast 5 min): Allows the next word-based attack to be understood by everyone instead of spoken only.

-Call for Help: Randomly summons one of the available NPCs at tavern to fight by your side. This action only summons NPCs that already joined your hamlet’s tavern. However, even if the character is there, only who got him to join the tavern is allowed to summon him.

-Nominal Letter: Invites the legendary Freelancer you met earlier to the fray by your side. Just like SMN, nominal letters need to be obtained by completing a quest that includes defeating these bandits, mercenaries or freelancers. However, these letters are consumable so they need to be obtained again upon usage. Like Nominal Letter: Xha Viqqoh the Nibbler item being obtained upon completion of the faction leve Wanted: Xha Viqqoh the Nibbler. After that you would receive a quest (repeatable daily) to challenge Xha Viqqoh for a duel and every time you win you receiving a letter.

There is a very small chance of she occasionally ask you to pay her a drink in honor of the good duel. If this happens and you happen to have a tavern in your hamlet, you can meet her there, also adding her to tavern crowd, being now also summonable by Call for Help action.

As for pet actions, he would have only role actions. Attack Order (pet would take an attacker role), Defense Order (pet would take a tank role), Reinforcements (pet would take healer/supporter role) and Surround Order (pet would stay from distance, using only ranged attacks).

-Invitation: Charms the target (must be spoken unless under Monster Talk effect). It cannot be used if you already have a pet or if the party is full. The charmed Spoken would stay in party until it die or move too far from the mediator.

-Persuade: Persuades everyone in range to focus on battle. Increases accuracy and lowers defense.

-Praise: Praises everyone for the great fight, making them use more fancy moves. Increases evasion and decreases attack.

-Threaten: Threatens everyone in range, making them take a more defensive stance. Increases defense and lowers evasion.

-Insult: Insults everyone in range, making them more irritated. Increases attack and lowers accuracy.

-Flatter: Ensures the critical hit of the next damage action f the target in exchange of all its TP.

-Solution: Everyone in range receives the effect MP Bleed and Regain.

-Preach: Everyone in range receives the effect of HP Bleed and Refresh.

-Resolution: Everyone in range receives the effect of TP Bleed and Regen.

-Negotiate: Convinces the target to pay in gil instead of HP the next damage taken.

-Duel: Tricks the enemy into attacking you at next attack, then countering the target with the very same damage you were meant to receive. Defense decreases and the counter rate increases based on the number of allies in effect range.

-Finger guard: Plugs your ears to prevent from hearing sounds. Temporarily protects you from the effect of word-based actions, including your own.

-Bull’s-eye (Weaponskill, Rank 50, 3000 TP, Requires Mediation): Puts all your skill in the line, shooting the target while looking to the other side. It’s a very inaccurate attack but that deals massive damage if hits.

Chapter XXXVIII: Summoner part 3 - SMN mechanics

Now that my battle mechanics was posted, let’s continue! This would fix a big aspect regarding SMNs and avatars, leaving them with an FFXIish-looking for SMNs but without distorting them so none of the current lore would need to change.

As I said at previous chapter, I’d like SMN as a more oriental-looking mage, like a mix of Shinto priestess and ninja styles… As weapons, having katanas (yes, 1-handed katanas), like those sacred/sealed short katanas with bamboo shelter and grips used for rituals!

I can see it with yukatas, strapped sandals, some shorts-like bandaged pants, those ninja bracers and a tiara with just the base of the horn, as if it was broken long ago (the broken horn is part of the class lore). Regarding the horn, we could have the broken part carried as necklace…just like PUP had the animators. The horn would be required to summon avatars…actually more like to deal with avatars since the broken horn would also be used by a possible vessel/channeler class when being possessed. The idea is it looking like that big fang at certain shepherd tunic and cowl models.

But continuing…SMN would have 8 spells plus one summoning spell per avatar. Following FFXI line, the 8 spells would be the elemental spirits. But instead of summoning them as pet, they would just come out, do its effect and leave…just like a common spell. An example would be the Astral Spirit…the animation would generate a portal, it coming out of it and going in a line AoE, healing every ally it touches in the way before vanishing…just like a common healing spell.

For summoning avatars it would be a much different thing though…it would have a long casting, large MP cost (since they wouldn’t have the MP cost over time, only spending MP every time they use a non-automated action) and the most important…different from FFXI we would have an animation lock during the summoning so we could have some decent animation cinematics, even to offline FFs. I know that people might say “Hey! But slow animations aren’t good for dynamic battles”…well, who care? Since they will be taking a party slot they aren’t meant to come, do a blood pact and leave like FFXI ones…it’s meant to come and stay out fulltime.

About the horn, again, would be nice as part of the animation we throwing the horn necklace in the floor and the portal from where the avatar come opening from it and, based on the summoned avatar the broken horn on the tiara generating a aura of the color of the avatar.

So, if I summon Ifrit, the tiara would have a horn-like crimson aura so party members would know the Ifrit is mine so they would know that id the avatar is tanking then its better keep the summoner who evoked it alive.

Another aspect, for gameplay and strategy-wise, would be the Summoner synchronization. Let’s say we have a party with 2 summoners…the first one summons Ifrit…what the second one can do then? This:

a) He can summon a different avatar, like Shiva, and the party start having 2 avatars. It’s important to say that if you have 2 avatars but one being weak to another, like Shiva being weak to Ifrit, Shiva will be weakened.

b) If he also wants a fire avatar, he can summon a different fire one, like Cerberus, with the PT having 2 fire avatars. With 2 fire avatars the performance of both would be increased.

c) But let’s say that, instead of 2 avatars they would rather having a SMN Sync…for this, the second SMN would also summon Ifrit. But this, instead of actually summoning Ifrit would cause the one already out to power-up into a higher tier Ifrit (we all saw this already, right? Bahamut, Neo Bahamut, Bahamut Zero)…it would become a even larger Ifrit (different model would be nice too…even if just an enhanced version of the default one) that would start accepting action commands from both SMNs (yes, yes…it’s not as simple as it looks…in the end it would require both SMNs to actually being sharp regarding roles of each one there), and, in exchange of a nearly doubled performance (would also use 2 party slots since it’s a 2-in-1 avatar…this is why it does can double performance in every single aspect) it would also consume MP from all SMNs involved, which would be extremely tricky due FFXIV battle pace.

So, in short, you would be able to get up to a tier V avatar, using 5 party slots and consuming MP from the 5 SMNs in that party to generate a really God-like personification of that avatar. With a performance reaching 4 times the default avatar one, it does would be able to take 1-on-1 fights with powerful enemies, just like a party of 10 petless players would.

So, while fights with multiple monsters (like Dodore) would be better dealt with all different avatars, when there is only one monster (Like Uraeus) the SMN Sync would be much more interesting since these monsters also are very bulky and take way less damage than multiple monsters ones.

Chapter XXXVIII: Summoner part 2 - cont. of Avatar battle suggestion

4) Primal Fight (Corrupted mode)

Now we reached the end of Primal World, it’s time to face Ifrit. The idea here is to “break” him so we can attack its head for damage. We should actually have a 6-in-1 monster (like many other RPG games have…including most of FF series). We can fight its legs, arms and tail and, when we “defeat” one, it just explode dealing AoE fire damage and generating one of the situations:

-Arms: He will stay armless for a minute before regenerating it, not being able to keep the attack frequency or using actions that require both arms meanwhile.

-Legs: It will lose its leg and fall for like a minute, depending on how easy incapacitation will be, before regenerating it. Only while fallen the head can be attacked and it actually receive damage.

-Tail: It will stay permanently incapacited once defeated. It can be used for a swipe like attack that frequently deals massive damage in area, being always the first incapacitation target if people want to win.

The idea for this fight is to have it using the tail often for an AoE Swipe attack, using the arms for single target attack (each arm, the head and the tail would have its own enmity, so the need of multiple off-tanks would be important. My idea would be having one tank at each arm and one at head while the others get the tail down as soon as possible). Legs shouldn’t attack, having its own way of damage being the explosion every time they’re defeated.
While having the two arms, he should be able to use them to do a frontal AoE heavy damage attack on whoever has the most head enmity (both arms attack is actually one of the head’s attack). Head would also have the red fire breath, that deals cone AoE fire damage and the blue fire breath, that is single target and charms the target.

A very important note…there is no Inferno in this fight! Inferno is supposed to be at next fight since it’s the signature action of Ifrit.

5) Synchronization with crystallized Primal

Once defeated, the primal will crystallize, turning into a gigantic Aetheryte. It’s a good spot for saving as a camp in case someone like the endgame idea and feel like using this area again…especially since the previous fight isn’t supposed to be easy.
Once you touch the aetheryte you will be teleported to a brand new area.

6) Assault to Purified Fire Aether Field

Now that the corrupted version is defeated, you will reach the true primal world. I’d love seeing this area like entirely having a red crystal-looking, like if was a sanctuary made of ruby. All aether fields would be alike, only changing the crystal color. This area’s harmony needs to be perfect…just imagine that you’re paying Olympus a visit! As monsters, only fire elementals should be found here.

7) Primal Fight (Aether Mode)

Now is the real fight! Once you reach the end of the field you will find a giant red gem, completely chained. After you interact to it, it will start cracking, like an egg, and the real ifrit would appear (can be the very same model as the current one, but entirely crimson, incandescent, similar to that effect drakes have, with a flaming aura around (this aura is elemental so every primal can have one following its element. The element color body and the “shiny effect” drakes have would be interesting to see in every primal). It’s important to say a thing here…it will be small now. I’d say the size of a goobbue is enough since it might be floating), thank for being freed and now ask the players to prove him their value.

Now it’s a single target enemy. Put all out in this fight! Fire II, Fire III, Firaga, Flare, since fire is also the element that affects STR, give him some massive physical damage basic attack and even stronger physical skills.

When it reaches 50% HP is time for the signature move. Make him talk a quick line (I’d love to see him talking the entire fight! I think the enemy talking makes it much more alive!) and then start going into fetal position to charge it. Give it a few seconds of charging so people have time to run away. Inferno cannot be stunned by any way and will kill whoever is in range. Give it some nice numbers, like some 4000+ damage! ^^ (who would say…I thought nothing was used from this suggestion…but seems like this was. Too bad only this was…)

Once inferno is done, battle continues, with a second Inferno coming out at 25% HP.

After players survived this all and defeated him, they would have some nice cutscene and be sent back to beast tribe stronghold, where the real Ifrit would come and accept the alliance against the Garlean Empire.

At next part, SMN mechanics!

Chapter XXXVIII: Summoner part 1 - Avatar battle suggestion

Following the pet class discussion (and since i already listed a bunch of other FF pet classes at past chapters), let’s talk about one of the most classic ones…

First, we must be aware of one of FFXIV aspects…avatars are HUGE! Being this, before we even thinking about summoning them we would need it adjusted in power and size. I sent to dev team a feedback regarding avatars when they first announced Ifrit battle...and I still think it’s a pretty good way of dealing with the oversized avatars.

In short, it would be slitting the colossal avatar version into 2 separated entities. The “corrupted version”, the big, ugly one, and the “aether version”, a smaller, shiny (like drakes) version of them after “purified”.

Gonna post the suggestion since the mechanics are valid still:

The main problem regarding fighting primals is their size. Some are just extremely big, which would require a specific mechanic for fighting if it was supposed to be straight fight. So i came into an idea that involves using echo power to talk to the primal's mind directly. But for it to be done, I must say that I had to “adjust” some lore points regarding them:

-The current colossal primals are corrupted versions of the real one generated by the elemental instability of the fight that ended with that garlean ship crashing in Mor Dhona.

-We will need to expand the echo to a brand new way, being able to talk straight to primal souls (and beast tribes' monsters too...that's why they can understand each other).

The battle would be divided in a few steps:

-Assault to beast Tribe
-Synchronization with primal's Echo
-Assault to Primal World
-Primal Fight (Corrupted mode)
-Synchronization with Primal's crystallized
-Assault to Purified [element] Aether
-Primal Fight (Aether Mode)

This might even sound like some kind of endgame...it’s a possibility for after all primals had been defeated. But lemme explain each step first:

1) Assault to beast Tribe

Here we need to invade the beast tribe’s stronghold. Fight the way in until we reach its end. Since we are talking about Ifrit, I’ll use Amaldaj’aa as example. When we reach the last room, we need to fight the 3 Amaldaj’aa Summoners. Once they’re defeated, we will have access to the Fire Summoning Key.

2) Synchronization with primal's Echo

With the key, we use the echo to access the primal’s mind and enter its world.

3) Assault to Primal World

Once inside, we will face a world that reflects the corrupted nature of the beast. I’d put a magma field full of flaming skeletons, bombs, wisps, elementals and any other fire-based monsters you guys feel like using. This could be like climbing an active volcano. (I like the thematic of being the primal world. Imagine leviathan world with we walking at seafloor and seeing it swimming ahead of us in the “sky”, having Titan be in a quicksand maze, Garuda in the eye of the hurricane, with multiple small flying islands like we had Riverne in FFXI)

More steps regarding Ifrit battle suggestion at next part!